Daniel Ricciardo is one of four drivers "on a different level" to the rest of the Formula 1 grid, Renault's Alan Permane claims.

After finding the sweet-spot of the 2020 car back at Silverstone, the Australian has been on top form this season, finishing in the points at the past nine races, including two podiums at Nurburgring and Imola.

Those results have given Renault a chance of third in the constructors' Championship, while Ricciardo himself is in an epic battle with Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc for fourth in the Drivers' standings.

Of course, Ricciardo's ability is well-known after his five-year stint at Red Bull, but having now regained that form at Renault, Permane believes the 31-year-old has reasserted himself as one of the very best in F1 today.

“I’m only speaking from what I see, [which is] the same as everyone else sees – okay, I’ve seen a little bit more of Daniel but there’s him, there’s Lewis [Hamilton], there’s Charles and there’s Max [Verstappen]. I think those four are a different level,” he told the Beyond the Grid podcast.

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“In and out of the car, you don’t meet many who are pretty much spot-on both ways. Daniel has done a great job in building a very strong team around him in terms of engineering, his mechanics and the people in the garage.

“No disrespect to [his Renault teammate] Esteban [Ocon] but he’s just that half a tenth, one-tenth behind, and where we are that can be a lifetime.

“He’s striving hard to close that gap and learning from Daniel where he can, and he sees what he [Ricciardo] has done with his team, and he’s doing the same, and he’s doing a great job – and if he can emulate him and have that same success, then great.”

Earlier in the year, Ricciardo reflected on how he was able to improve and credited his year alongside Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull in 2014.

“He had so much experience. He was the one to beat. [It was] a huge challenge because it was the team that they had built around him. I loved the pressure it put on me,” he told F1-Insider.com.

“I learned a lot from him, and I had a lot of fun when I realized: I can challenge him, I can drive at eye level with him. He didn’t have that much joy, but I could learn a lot for my career from that time.

“It was special, the way he worked. How he spurred the team on again and again. He had this special German work ethic. To be extremely focused, to meticulously illuminate every detail.

“Sometimes I was really shocked at how brutally open he brought up a problem, but I quickly learned that this is the only way to get there. I liked the way he did it.”

Of course, that year Ricciardo ended up beating Vettel, with the four-time champion leaving for Ferrari the following year, but he denied his arrival was why Seb moved on.

“Because he is someone who always wants to win, always wants to be faster than the other, he was probably seething deep down, but he always showed me respect,” the Aussie explained.

“There were never any games. He congratulated me when I did a good job. He was always fair and could accept defeat, but he would always find a way to get back better. I think that this quality is also why he has been at the top for so long.

“I was proud because I did a good job but, to be honest, I was also a little sad that he left. I would have loved to drive another season with him, even if the second season would have been more difficult.

“But I don’t think I was the reason he left Red Bull. He achieved so much with them and he just needed a new challenge at the time.”